Cable drum



July 17, 1956 M J TERHQ 2,755,036

CABLE DRUM Filed July 3, 1953 IN VEN TOR.

MZ'%A'0 JbaSeppi Tero ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent O CABLE DRUM Mikko Jooseppi Terho, Raisin, FinlandApplication July 3, 1953, Serial No. 365,952

2 Claims. (Cl. 242-117) This invention relates to a cable drum and morespecifically to a cable drum of the helical groove type which is adaptedto space adjacent turns of the cable wound thereupon.

In cable drums of the class described, there has always been present theproblem of keeping the cable on the drum proper should for any reasonthere be a relaxing of tension in the free end of the cable woundthereupon. This is particularly true should, for instance, it be desiredto completely release the load upon the free end of the cable, in whichcase the residual springiness, which is present in the cable when it iswound upon a drum, will allow the cable to become disengaged with thedrum, the adjacent turns becoming entangled one with another.

It is therefore one of the objects of my invention to overcome theforegoing difliculties.

Another object of my invention is to provide a cable drum having meanscoupled therewith which will prevent release of the cable woundthereupon.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device which maybe attached to a cable drum which will not only guide the cable to bewound thereupon in adjacent helices but will additionally hold the cablewound thereon in close contact with the drum.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the apepnded claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

The single figure is a top view of the winding drum and the cableholding device of my invention with certain parts thereof shown inbroken section.

In proceeding with my invention, I provide a circular drum with a boretherethrough so that the drum may be mounted upon a shaft. On theperiphery of the drum I mount a helical spring retaining member having apredetermined pitch in accordance with the diameter of the cable whichis to be used on the drum and preferably, although not necessarily, Iprovide a helical groove on the surface of said drum having a pitchequal to the pitch of the aforementioned spring retaining member.

With reference to the drawing, designates the winding drum which isshown as being provided with a helical groove 11 on the peripheralsurface thereof. In the embodiment shown, the pitch of groove 11 ischosen so that the cable 12 will lie in such a way that the successiveturns thereof are spaced approximately half a diameter from each other.A spring-like retaining member 14, which is helically wound in a pitchequal to the pitch of the groove 11 is mounted over the drum 10 byfastening the lugs -15 thereto. One of the lugs 15' additionally servesas a clamp for the cable 12, and end 12' thereof being clamped betweenthe lug 15' and the drum 10. As will be seen, particularly by referringto the partial cross sections, the spring-like retaining member 14 isspaced from the surface of the drum 10 in a very slight amount so thatwhen a cable 12 is seated in one of the grooves 11, retaining member 14will contact ad- 2,755,036 Patented July 17, 1956 ice jacent sides ofthe cable 12, such as at 16 and 16' and hold the cable 12 snugly in thegroove 11.

Should it be desired to withdraw the cable 12, the adjacent helices ofthe spring member 14 will spring apart axially of the drum sufficiently,such as shown at 17, to allow the cable 12 to be withdrawn from the drum10. With the cable 12 partially withdrawn, as shown in the drawing, itwill be seen that adjacent turns of the spring member 14 will grip theend of the cable 12 such as at 17. Thus, should the tension be releasedfrom the end of the cable 12, there will be no tendency for theremaining portion of the cable which is wound upon the drum 10 to becomeloose thereon, the adjacent turns thereof entangling one with the other.Additionally, the adjacent turns of the spring member 14 which grip thecable 12 hold the cable in close contact with the drum throughout thewound portion, further preventing the cable from becoming dislodged.

Alternately, it is possible to completely eliminate the grooves 11formed on the periphery of the drum 10, since the helical fashion of thespring retaining member 14 is such that it will serve as a guiding meansto lay the adjacent turns of the cable 12 upon the drum 10 in a veryeven manner. Thus, the spring-like retaining member 14 will not onlyhold the cable 12 against the surface of the drum 10 but will also serveto properly space the adjacent turns thereof.

The spring-like member 14 has additional utility when greased cables areused. As is known, the grease tends to accumulate dirt and largeparticles such as stones, etc. Such an accumulation may interfere withthe winding of the cable upon a drum. However, with the presentstructure there is a wiping action that occurs as the cable 12 passesbetwen the adjacent helices, such as at 17, and is wound upon the drum,thus removing a great deal of the accumulation of foreign matter.

I claim:

1. A drum for reeling cable comprising a circular body of finite lengthhaving a helically grooved reeling surface, a helical resilient coil ofwire of circular cross section screws for fastening said coil to saidbody at each end thereof, said coil being of a diameter to be in spacedrelation to the bottom of said grooves a distance of at least the radiusof the grooves but not greater than 1.73 times the radius of thegrooves, the turns of said coil lying over the ribs between saidgrooves, the diameter of said wire being not greater than the diameterof said grooves.

2. A drum for reeling cable comprising a circular body of finite lengthhaving a reeling surface, a helical resilient coil of wire of circularcross section, screws for fastening said coil to said body at each endthereof, said coil being of a diameter to be in spaced relation to saidreeling surface, said spacing being less' than the diameter and greaterthan the radius of the cable, the successive turns of said Wire spacedfrom each other a distance at least equal to the spacing betweensuccessive turns of the cable but not greater than twice the distancebetween successive turns of the cable so that each turn of said wirewill tangentially contact adjacent turns of said cable at points between0 and 60 of a line drawn diametrically through the centers of saidcable.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS852,411 Beasley May 7, 1907 2,455,683 King Dec. 7, 1948 2,497,220Humberson Feb. 14, 1950 2,553,097 Lampe May 15, 1951 2,584,099 HarkraderJan. 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 828,908 Germany Jan. 21, 1952

